Year 11 Literature
Merri Creek, Wurundjeri Country
Northcote High School
Deep listening to Voices of Country
In Year 11 Literature the new study design includes a ‘Voices of Country’ unit, which engages with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander storytellers and considers the impacts of colonisation. As part of this unit one class entered poems into ‘Poem Forest’, a nature poetry competition held by Red Room Poetry. The following are a selection of those entered, read all of their poems here.
Roots
By Teia F
This land we call ours
Has a richer history
Far deeper than us
Trees older than time
Roots beneath; tangled, entwined
Not our possession.
eucalyptus
By Sian S
new leaves stretch
their fingers to the sky and the birds
nibble the blossoms in their sincere way of life.
the old growth underneath is twisted and gnarled
and smooth. it saw the sun once but rests in the shade
urging the new leaves to dream. sunlight dapples
lower and lower. bark is smooth and
beetles crawl over
the trunk.
they are
somber
in their
community
on
this
old
tree.
Thieves of Land
By Sidney W
The birds we stole from the sky, were they ours to steal?
The birds we brought over, did we have that right?
Like the invaders, we kill and camp,
on land that is not ours, and skies that are losing their song.
In wood and stone we've taken, from the spirits and camps of elders, we live carefree lives on soil that resents our presence.
In Birrarung Marr, the eels choke,
on plastic flecks, and mountains of silt.
The cormorants spread their wings to dry,
and find the oil marring their feathers.
The kookaburas laugh,
at our ignorance.
Our unthinking, unfeeling disrespect.
And we sit.
And live, and steal, and kill, and be killed,
on, by, and from the land that isn't ours.
Branches
By Polixeni P
Fluttering leaves are falling down,
leaving their branches behind.
For bugs and birds to pick apart,
without their sticks and twine.
When leaves leave life and home and place,
critters will come to visit.
But, the structure holding their leaves whole,
will not be there to see it.
Eucalyptus linocut. Anna Carrig
Merri Creek, Wurundjeri Country
Eucalyptus linocut. Anna Carrig
Merri Creek, Wurundjeri Country